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One Hundred 
Years 







Copyright 1914 

BY 

Allan Sutherland 



AUG -I 1914 



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The Centenary 



of the 



Star-Spangled Banner 



(Illustrated) 



By 

Allan Sutherland 

Author of 
"Famous Hymns of the World" 



Advertisers Publishing Co. 

1336 Cherry Street 

Philadelphia 



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One Hundredth Anniversary '- 

of the Writing of the 

"Star-Spangled Banner" 

AMERICA is doing honor to one 
who, while his soul was throbbing 
with anxiety for the fate of his 
country and a devoted city, gave ex- 
pression to his intense patriotism in the 
song of a battle from which the Stars 
and Stripes emerged victoriously: in the 
gray dawn of a September morning, one 
hundred years ago. That song has be- 
come famous and is now known far and 
wide as the "Star-Spangled Banner." 

The one hundredth anniversary of 
the inspired poem is being celebrated rn 
Baltimore with intense enthusiasm, 
which reaches its climax September 
14th, the actual anniversary of the 
writing of the poem. During this 
Centennial Week the President and 
many other notable men of the country 
assemble to pay homage to the author, 
Francis Scott Key. 



One Hundredth Anniversary 



The Mayor of Baltimore, in his desire 
to make this a national celebration, has 
requested the chief executives of every 
city in the land to order flags to be 
unfurled from all staffs under municipal 
control from September 6th to 13th, 
and to request that the Stars and 
Stripes shall wave over business institu- 
tions and residences everywhere. 




The events connected with the writing 
of this song form one of the most inter- 
esting chapters in the annals of our 
country, and the tlirilling story should 
be familiar to every one to whom Old 
Glory is an inspiration to worthier liv- 
ing. 

The hymn had its inception in the 
fierce tumult of a battle, upon the issue 
of which depended the fate of a devoted 
city; and its birth-throes, in the gray 
dawning of an autumn morning, were in 
the breast of a noble patriot whose heart ' 
was filled with anxiety over the doubt- 
ful termination of the fight. 

Early in the fall of 1814 the British 



The Star-Spcmglecl Banijer 



troops and ships met with little oppo- 
sition in their attack on the city of 
Washington, in which they were suc- 
cessful in destroying the Capitol, White 
House and many important documents. 
With a similar intent on the city of 
Baltimore, Admiral Sir Alexander 
Cochrane, in command of the British 
naval forces, and General Ross, in com- 




BIRTHPLACE OF FRAXCIS SCOTT KEY 

mand of the land forces, set sail for that 
city. With the fleet went Dr. William 
Beanes of Upper Marlborough, an 
American prisoner on board one of the 
ships. If Dr. Beanes had been free at 
that time the "Star-Spangled Banner" 
never would have been written. 



One Hundredth Anniversary 



The doctor's capture was due to a 
peculiar circumstance. He had enter- 
tained several English officers in his 
home and had made the best of the en- 
forced situation. In the fortunes of 
war Dr. Beanes acted as. a gentleman 
should, and in spite of his patriotism 
was an agreeable host. 

When the British withdrew from 
Washington they were beset by a terrific 
storm which gave their withdrawal much 
the appearance of a retreat. Dr. 
Beanes and several of his friends im- 
mediately started to celebrate what they 
thought to be an American victory. 
Three British soldiers straggling along 
after the main force were apprehended 
by the doctor and his friends and 
placed in jail. One of these men having 
escaped, met a body of English horse- 
men, and the latter returned to the 
rescue, arresting the doctor. For a 
time things looked serious for the 
American, and there were even hints of 
a "hanging at the yard-arm." The news 
reached Washington, and a brilliant 
3^oung attorney of Georgetown, Francis 
Scott Key, and a friend, John S. Skin- 
ner, commissioner in the exchange of 
prisoners, set out to release Dr. Beanes. 



The Star-Spangled Banner 

Being a leading citizen in the section, 
it was determined to save him if at all 
possible. 

The young lawyer obtained permis- 
sion of President Madison to use a small 
cartel-ship, the ]\Iinden, and with Mr. 
Skinner, hastened to Baltimore. They 
were soon on their way down the Chesa- 
peake Bay in search of the British fleet, 
which they found at the mouth of the 
Potomac River preparing for an attack 
on Baltimore. 

When they were received by Admiral 
Cochrane, Key and Skinner were in- 
formed that it had been the intention 
of the commander to use the aforemen- 
tioned yard-arm in connection with Dr. 
Beanes, until it was learned that the 
doctor had not only been an admirable 
host, but had also attended the wounds 
of several British officers who were in- 
jured in the Battle of Bladensburg, one 
of the fights in the vicinity of Wash- 
ington. 

Admiral Cochrane granted the re- 
quest of Skinner and Key, but refused 
to allow them to return to Baltimore. 
It was his intention to attack tlie city 
and he wanted no warning given before 



One Hundredth Anniversary 

the approach of his ships ; therefore, 
the three Americans were compelled to 
stand idly on the deck of their ship 
watching the walls of Fort ^NIcHenry, 
on the Patapsco River, appear through 
the distance as it became more and more 
evident that it was the intention of the 
fleet to attack this key to Baltimore. 

After landing General Ross and his 
forces at North Point, the fleet formed 
in a semicircle across the river for the 
attack on the fort, about two and a 
half miles away, which is thus described 
in Admiral Cochrane's report to the 
British Admiralty : "I hoisted my flag 
on the Surprise, and with the remainder 
of the frigates, bomb sloops, and the 
rocket ship, passed further up the 
river. At daybreak the next morning, 
September 13th, the bomb ships having 
taken their stations within shell range, 
supported by the Surprise, with the 
other frigates and sloops, opened their 
fire upon the fort tliat protected the 
harbor." 

The destruction of the fleet with 
modern coast artillery would have been 
but a matter of moments, but iij those 
days Fort ]\IcHenry was not so 
equipped. Its forty-two-pounders were 



The Star-Spangled Banner 

incapable of reaching the fleet. The 
low-lying, squatty-looking little brick- 
and-earth fort seemed insignificant, and 
it has been stated that on this account 
its commander, Lieutenant Colonel 
George Armistead, had received orders 
not to attempt defense against the 
attack of the British fleet. Doubtless 
he fought more heroically, knowing that 
a court martial would await him for dis- 
obeying orders if he failed. 

Just before the opening of the battle, 
the three Americans were placed on 
board of their own ship, under guard 
of marines to prevent their landing, and 
the boat was anchored in a position 
which commanded an excellent view of 
the engagement. 

At sunset the flag was still waving 
from the ramparts. Then began the 
long night vigil of the three friends. 
The strain of anxious waiting was tre- 
mendous. Now and then a shell burst 
near the fort, showing by its glare that 
our flag was still flying. Sleep was, 
of course, out of the question. There 
was nothing to do but wait. 

About midnight the firing ceased ; but 
an hour later the ships, having moved 
closer, opened a terrific fire which was 




"OLD GLORY" 



The Star-Spangled Banner 



continued for some time. Then again 
the firing ceased. Torn with anxiety, 
fearing lest the cessation of fire meant 
that the fort had been taken, they 
sought to learn the all-important thing, 
• — was the flag still flying? 

The supreme moment of their lives 
came when, through "the mists of the 
d^wri, the flag was discovered "gallantly 
streaming" , in all jts peerless beauty 
over the rah^parts >'o.f the fort. The 
hymn, which had been forming in Key's 
mind as he watched for the flag, burst 
forth in the moment of his great joy, 
and found its birthplace on the back of 
an old envelope. 

Key and his friends were then allowed 
to land. It developed that the land 
forces had been defeated and that Gen- 
eral Ross had been killed. It was the 
receipt of this news that had caused 
Admiral Cochrane to turn loose on the 
fort all the fury of his armament at one 
o'clock in the morning. 

Key completed his poem on the way 
to the shore, and the following morn- 
ing showed it to his brother-in-law. 
Judge Nicholson, who realizing its rare 
merits, took it at once to a Baltimore 
printer, who published it as a small 




XED BANNER" 

saw "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming," in the 






THE ORIGINAL "STA 

rhis flag now in the National Museum at Washington, is the one which Fran 
it oeptember 14. 1814 anri wKl^K Ir^cr^ir^J „.— „»»: ^_i i -tl. a 



One Hundredth Anniversary 

handbill. In a short time that handbill 
had become the prized possession of 
thousands. It was set to the tune of an 
old hymn, "Anachreon in Heaven," by 
John Stafford Smith, and was first sung 
in the Hollidav Street Theatre, Balti- 
more, by Ferdinand Durang, after which 
its popularity spread throughout the 
length and breadth of the nation. It 
played an important part in the Battle 
of New Orleans, which was fought more 
than two weeks after the signing of the 
treaty of peace in Ghent, in December, 
18U. 




In every respect Key was worthy of 
the honor of having his anthem adopted 
as the national hymn. He was, in the 
full sense of the word, a Christian gen- 
tleman, and although he wrote several 
poems of merit, and was remarkable as 
a lawyer and statesman, is known almost 
entirely to-day as the author of the 
"Star-Spangled Banner." He was born 
on his father's estate. Terra Rubra, in 
Frederick, Maryland, on August 1st, 
1779. After graduating from St. John's 
College, Annapolis, he practised law for 
some time in Frederick. Later he re- 



The Star-Spangled Banner 

moved to Georgetown, D. C. For three 
terms he was district attorney of the 
District of Columbia. He died in Balti- 
more, January 11th, 1843. Every Me- 
morial Day the flag which constantly 
floats over his grave in Mt. Olivet Ceme- 
tery, Frederick, is renewed by loving 
hands. 

The first monument in memory of the 
poet was erected in what w^as not even 
United States territory at the time of 
the attack on Baltimore, or, in fact, for 
many years afterward. Golden Gate 
Park, San Francisco, is the home of the 
first statue to Francis Scott Key. On 
the one liundred and eighteenth anni- 
versary of his birth, August 9th, 1898, 
a beautiful monument was erected in 
Frederick, ^Maryland, by the people of 
that town. 

Physically he was described as being 
"tall, erect and of admirable propor- 
tions. There dwelt usually upon his 
handsome and winning features a soft 
and touching pensiveness of expression, 
almost bordering on sadness, but which, 
in moments of special excitement, or 
when anything occurred to aw^aken the 
dormant heroism of his nature, or to 



One Hundredth Anniversary 

call into action the higher power of 
vigorous and well-cultivated intellect, 
gave place to a bright ethereality of 
aspect and noble audacity of tone 
which pleased while it dazzled the be- 
holder." 

A few years before his death, Mr. 
Key thus spoke, at a banquet, of the 
attack on Baltimore: "I witnessed the 
preparation for the assault, and saw 
the array of enemies as they advanced 
to the attack. I heard the sound of 
battle, the noise of the conflict fell upon 
my listening ear and told me that the 
brave and the free had met the invaders. 
Then did I remember that Maryland 
had called her sons to the defense of the 
flag, and that they were the sons of 
sires who had left their crimson foot- 
prints on the snows of the North, and 
poured out the blood of patriots, like 
water, on the sands of the South. 
Then did I remember that there were 
gathered around that banner, among its 
defenders, men who had heard and an- 
swered the call of their country, from 
these mountainsides and from this beau- 
tiful valley and from this fair city of 
my native country ; and though I walked 



The Star-Spangled Banner 

upon a deck surrounded by a hostile 
fleet, yet was my step firm and my heart 
strong as these recollections came upon 
me. Through the clouds of war, the 
stars of that banner still shone in my 
view, and I saw the discomfited host of 
the assailants driven back in ignominy 
to their ships. Then, in that hour of 
deliverance and joyful triumph, the 
heart spoke ; and do not such a country 
and such defenders of their country de- 
serve a song? was the question. With it 
came an inspiration not to be resisted ; 
and if it had been a hanging matter to 
make a song, I must have made it. Let 
the praise then, if any be due, be given 
not to me, who did what I could not 
help doing, but to the inspirers of the 
song !" 




The flag which floated from Fort 
McHenry during the attack by the 
British was in itself interesting, and 
the greater portion of it still remains 
preserved in the National Museum at 
Washington. A reproduction from a 
photograph taken at Washington is 
shown on another page. 



One Hundredth Anniversary 

Its proportions were large, measuring 
thirty by forty feet, originally. It was 
made by Mrs. Mary Pickersgill, for- 
merly Mary Young, a Philadelphia girl, 
born in the year of Independence, Feb- 
ruary 12th, 1776. It was in the days 
when a stripe as well as a star was added 
to the flag for each new state. When it 
was found to be growing larger, with a 
prospect of soon being unshapely, the 
addition of new stripes was abandoned, 
the flag was returned to its original pro- 
portions and the thirteen stripes repre- 
senting the original states were made 
permanent. 

]Mary Pickersgill's flag liad fifteen 
stripes, each two feet wide, and fifteen 
stars, each two feet in diameter. The 
blue field rested on the ninth stripe, a 
red one, instead of the eighth and white 
stripe as in the present flag. 

A piece cut out from one of its cor- 
ners is said to be buried with one of the 
old defenders of the fort, who made a 
dying request that a bit of the flag be 
placed over his dead heart. 

During the battle the flag was struck 
eleven times, one shell cutting out one 
of the stars. 



The Star-Spangled Banner 



The flag floated over the tent that 
slieltered General Lafayette when he 
was entertained at Fort McHenry, Sep- 
tember 14th, 1824; and was carried in 
tile funeral procession of Colonel Armi- 
stead, who died April 25th, 1818, and 
was buried in the old St. Paul burying 
ground, Baltimore. It was exhibited 
at the Centennial Exhibition, Phila- 
delphia, 1876, and at the Old South 
Church, Boston, June 1-itli, 1877, the 
centennial of the adoption of the flag 
by Congress. At the Peace Festival 
in Boston, June 15th, 1869, the "Star- 
Spangled Banner" was sung by ten 
thousand voices, with full orchestra, 
drum corps, chiming bells and artillery 
accompaniments. The effect was elec- 
trical, and the greatest enthusiasm pre- 
vailed. 

It is not generally known that Dr. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes added a verse 
to the poem at the outbreak of the Civil 
War. It is as follows : 

"When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile. 
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory» 

Down, down with the traitor who dares to defile 
The flag of her stars and the page of her story : 



One Hundredth Anniversary 

By the millions of unchained when our birthright 
was gained, 

We will keep her bright blazon for ever un- 
stained : 

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall 
wave 

While the land of the free is the home of the 
brave." 

In a Flag Day address before the 
clerks of his department, June 14th, 
1914, Secretary Franklin K. Lane, of 
the Interior Department, Washington, 
D. C, imagines our country's flag 
speaking as follows : 

"I am whatever you make me, nothing 
more. I am 3^our belief in yourself, 
your dream of what a people may be- 
come. I live a changing life, a life of 
moods and passions, of heart-breaks 
and tired muscles. Sometimes I am 
strong with pride, when men do an 
honest w^ork, fitting the rails together 
truly; sometimes I droop, for then pur- 
pose has gone from me, and cynically 
I play the coward. Sometimes I am 
loud, garish and full of that ego which 
blasts judgment; but always I am all 
that you hope to be and have the cour- 
age to try for. I am song and fear, 
struggle and panic, and ennobling hope. 



The Star-Spangled Banner 

I am the day's work of the weakest man, 
and the largest dream of the most far- 
ing". ... I am no more than you 
believe me to be, and I am all that you 
believe I can be. I am what you make 
me, nothing more. I swing before you 
as a bright gleam of color, a symbol 
of yourself, the pictured suggestion of 
that big thing which makes this nation. 
My stars and my stripes are your 
dreams and your labors. They are 
bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, 
firm with faith, because you have made 
them so out of your hearts, for you are 
the makers of the flag, and it is weP 
that you glory in the making !" 




It is eminently fitting that the mem- 
ory of the author of "The Star Span- 
gled Banner" should be honored. Al- 
though Congress has not seen fit to na- 
tionalize his famous lines, they are en- 
shrined in the hearts of over 100,000,- 
000 patriotic Americans whose proudest 
possession is the Stars and Stripes. May 
they wave forever ! 



The Star-Spangled Banner 

Oh say ! can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's 
last gleaming. 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the 
perilous fight. 
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly 
streaming? 
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting 

in air. 
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was 

still there. 
Oh say ! does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the 
brave ? 

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the midst of the 

deep 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence 

reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering 

steep 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half dis- 
closes ? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first 

beam. 
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream ; 
'Tis the star-spangled banner, oh! long may it 

wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the 

brave ! 

Oh ! thus be it e'er when freemen shall stand 
Between their loved homes and the war's deso- 
lation ; 
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n- 
rescued land 
Praise the pow'r that hath made and preserv'd 
us a nation f 
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just. 
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust." 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall 

- wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the 
brave. 



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